Telling the story of climate innovation at the Talanoa Dialogue

Opinion
10 Nov 2017

The Talanoa Dialogue is a policy innovation, as far as intergovernmental processes are concerned, based on the traditional Fijian approach to sharing views, good practices, listening and coming to joint decisions.

Primarily designed for countries at international climate talks (the Parties), to help to step away from the traditional, rather formal, often written processes of negotiating the text of implementation rules of the Paris Agreement (the Paris Rulebook).

The Talanoa also serves to facilitate dialogue and supports the first global stocktake on countries climate action under the Paris Agreement. And while some country representatives may have seemed uncomfortable at last Sunday’s Talanoas, as the day went on everybody opened up.

By the end, the overwhelming conclusion was rather enthusiastic. The Fiji Presidency and the Secretariat have extended the invitation to some non-Party actors as well into this process, a much welcome development, pointing to the slow opening up of the UNFCCC process.

Even more so positive news for EIT Climate-KIC, who were invited to share their story, one that can be told by the three guiding questions posed at the dialogue.

Where are we?

Innovation is critical for zero-carbon transformation and fostering resilient societies. In nurturing innovation, systemic change requires a broad and multi-faceted approach, where projects need wider engagement from across the knowledge, business, and public sectors, as well as co-creation of systems innovation projects.

Where do we want to go?

The ambitious objectives set in the Paris Agreement (to limit warming to well-below 2°C and aim for keeping at 1.5°C) imply that our window for action is short, solutions must be made available faster and scaled up faster to achieve the desired impact.

How do we get there?

We must focus on transformative action, through systems innovation. By addressing the interdependent challenges of climate change and sustainable economic development through strategic innovation, we can catalyse and support innovation that addresses social, behavioural, policy and finance drivers, as well as technological innovation.

Transformative climate action requires simultaneous innovation and intervention across a set of systems drivers – policy, behaviour, finance, technology and markets – where the balance must be tailored to each system based on deep insights and experimentation.